Dec. 3, 2013

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Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

Detroit Tigers Doug Fister setting up for a pitch in the fourth inning of baseball game against the Seattle Mariners in Detroit on Thursday September 19, 2013. / Julian H. Gonzalez/DFP

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Although hardly of the magnitude of the Prince Fielder-Ian Kinsler trade, the Detroit Tigers’ trade of starting pitcher Doug Fister to Washington on Monday night has similarities to that blockbuster of two weeks ago.

As when they traded Fielder, the Tigers cleared several million dollars off their payroll for the next few years by dealing Fister. Thus they perhaps increased their financial capability to re-sign Cy Young winner Max Scherzer to a huge long-term contract that will keep him from leaving as a free agent after next season.

Drew Smyly moves into the rotation to replace Fister. “Our starting depth allowed us to make the deal,” Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said.

The three players obtained for Washington are doubtless unknown to most Tigers followers: minor-league starter Robbie Ray, utility player Steve Lombardozzi and reliever Ian Krol.

But as when they obtained Kinsler to step in at second and the top portion of the order, each player the Tigers received for Fister fills a need the club perceived:

Ray, a hard-throwing left-hander, provides a high-ceiling pitching prospect for a farm system that lacks them. Dombrowski said Ray, 22, would be at Triple-A Toledo and could ascend to the Tigers rotation this coming season if any of the big-league starters were sidelined.

Asked how much of a priority it was in the trade to get a starting-pitching prospect like Ray, Dombrowski said, “It was a key for us, and it’s not only what you see in the minors (in the Tigers’ system).

“Young starting pitchers who are on the verge of pitching in the big leagues that have a projection to be No. 3 starters or above are hard to find and also are not easily acquired,” Dombrowski continued. “We think this guy is a premium young left-handed pitcher who is on the verge of pitching in the big leagues, and they aren’t easy to find.”

Dombrowski said that Lombardozzi “is one of the best utility players in baseball _ he can help us at second, short, third, outfield.”

Dombrowski said Lombardozzi’s arrival as the back-up middle infielder makes it official that Ramon Santiago, a free agent who had filled that role in recent years, won’t return to the Tigers. Lombardozzi, like Santiago, is a switch-hitter. But at 25, he’s nine years younger than Santiago, and he has advantages on him in speed and the capability to help out in left.

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Krol, who like Ray throws hard, can be seen as stepping into Smyly’s role as a lefty reliever. Dombrowski called Krol “a quality young left-hander who is ready to be one of our lefties in the bullpen and who projects to be a No. 1-type lefty.”

It’s a bullpen that still lacks its biggest piece. Dombrowski said finding a closer remains his biggest off-season priority. This off-season’s bevy of free-agent closers all remained unsigned as of Monday night.

In a conference call with reporters following the trade announcement, Dombrowski made it sound as if Scherzer and Rick Porcello will be part of next year’s rotation. It’s no shock if they are – with Smyly in the bullpen, the Tigers had one extra starting pitcher. Now they don’t.

There was widespread speculation entering the off-season that the Tigers would trade Scherzer now to avoid the risk of having him walk away a year from now.

“In Scherzer’s case, it would be very, very difficult to trade a guy who won the Cy Young,” Dombrowski said. “We’re hopeful that he’ll be with us for a long time.”

Asked if he was saying Scherzer won’t be traded this off-season, Dombrowski said, “I’m not making any declarations about any players. I don’t think that’s a wise thing to do.”

Porcello, the No. 5 starter, was speculated as a trade candidate for this off-season, and Fister wasn’t.

“We think Rick Porcello is ready to assume more of a role as a No. 4 starter,” Dombrowski said.

Fister and Porcello are two years from free agency, and their projected salaries for next season are comparable, in the $7-8 million range. So Smyly, who will make well below $1 million, replaces Fister, thus creating the savings that might go toward a Scherzer mega-deal.

Dombrowski summed up Monday’s deal in much the way he did Fielder-Kinsler: “It was a move that make sense and that gives us the flexibility for some other things we want to do.”

That biggest of those things would appear to be signing Scherzer to a long-term deal.

Contact John Lowe: jlowe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @freeptigers.